I have been collecting a lot of information regarding the map editor and what people consider to be important features within the editor. The more information I gather, the more that people are looking for the RTS editors like Starcraft and Age of Empires. Keep in mind the map editor will only be available for the desktop version of Custom Wars Tactics.

As for raw features, I want to at least cover (off the top of my head)...

- Controlled Interface: Both keyboard and/or mouse navigation through all map editor features

- Map Loading: Support for loading previous map from various file formats into editor

- Map Features: Support for map re-size and zoom while editing

- Map Save: Support for saving maps - desktop only

- (Map Generation: Support for random map generation - prospect)

- (Map Test: Support for testing a map without saving - prospect)

As for look-and-feel, it is going to follow the same look-and-feel of the menu system in general. I am going to create the entire interface from scratch using the information I've gathered plus any insights and ideas anyone has for improvements. Everyone is free to toss in suggestions for features and graphic improvements.

At the moment, however, the work has shifted to online play. I want to take some time getting that up and running. I am also doing a lot of work on the desktop version of the game as well, getting all the pieces in order like music and the graphics we need for the game to run.

That is all the information I have so far for the map editor. I'll be sure to share more as things develop in the future. If anyone has any more questions, comments, or concerns; I'll be sure to take the time to read and answer them.

I see, though I am unclear on the divergence between desktop and online components.

I have been playing AWBW lately to see what is done well and what can be done better. Regarding map editors, for instance, the CW editor has useful copy and drag qualities to the right and left mouse buttons, respectively, while the AWBW editor has a palette instead. However, the latter is slow, lacking the drag function of other editors, to the point where users created their own editors which can upload to the site as text files, as I understand it- an extremely useful way to patch up that weakness.

I am also trying to play AW4 online, though my shoddy connection is making that practically impossible at the moment.

The technology we are using for the online version of the game is JavaScript. This version covers all the Internet Browsers and the Mobile devices. Due to it being exclusively online, I have to cut out a lot of features that will be available in the browser version in order to make sure that people can play the game. This is the AWBW-esque part of the program, as it will be able to be played on online browsers and have a little bit of Customization support.

This version of the game is completely written in Java. The responsibility of the desktop version is to hold all the editors, have better graphics, and overall be a little bit better looking than the Web counterpart. Most of the features requested by the users for customization will be on the desktop version of the game.

So what does this mean? Essentially, I split the program into 2 parts...

The Web version focuses more on the multi-player aspect of the game, making sure everyone can access the engine and play games on multiple devices. It focuses very lightly on customization and graphics.

The desktop version focus is the customization part. It will have a lot more editors, better graphics, and give users the ability to change the game. My goal for the desktop editor is to make it very easy to change objects and edit maps.

Both versions are going to allow you to play the game and both will allow changes to game rules (weather, unit bans, etc) and data (unit stat changes, terrain stat changes, etc). Map loading will be possible on both as well.

How will the two components interact with each other, if at all? For example, can maps or other edits made on the desktop version be imported into the online version? I imagine maps have to be made for the online component somehow.

Yup. It is exactly like how you stated. Both versions will have the exact same format for loading maps (and replays when available). Also, each program will be able to transfer the game rules and stat changes to the objects as well.

The core of the game is written in JavaScript because nearly every platform has a suitable JavaScript environment. This is why we took JavaScript as language for the core. This enables us to write native clients for every platform that supports a JavaScript environment.

So why we distribute only two clients then?Because we do not need a native client for every platform. Java does a great job, but it is not available everywhere. Furthermore JSR and me has taken the challenge to proof the power of HTML5. So we decided to split into two clients.

1. Play-Only (WebClient)2. Modder Client (jSlixClient)

The play-only client allows to be played offline in every supported platform. It uses a lot of HTML 5 APIs and is supported in most of the current mainstream devices ( iPad, iPod, Android Tablets, Desktop browsers ). The task of this client is to make the game easy playable and this is also the main focus ( nothing more ).

The jSlixClient has another task. This client is supposed to be used on desktop platforms to edit content. It should include map and mod editors which produces single mod/map files. This is the main difference in comparison to the play only client.

Both clients working with the same engine. So you can join game sessions with one of them. Means game sessions are not limited to the same kind of client. This means also that mod and map files created from the jSlixClient are usable by the webClient too.

Hope that clears some questions about the strategy.

PS: @Admin the current design is not available if I open this forum as guest

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